Sunday, November 13, 2011

Poems or prose?

I used to write quite a bit of poetry . I even won an award or
two. But one day I stopped . Not through choice ; my muse suddenly decided she preferred
prose to poems. Today I decided to make myself write some verse, and despite spending
ages struggling with rhymes and rhythms, my apology for a poem was pretty dire.
Then I applied the same theme to a chunk of prose . It flowed out in exactly the
way my poetry once did – it was all done in five minutes. By this time next
year it could all have swung around again; who knows . Anyway I’ve posted both .
Perhaps seeing them one above the other in print might give me the push I need
to practice my verse .

The summer flower has run to seed

The trees have shed their leaves

It’s cold outside

The sky is grey

And winter’s here indeed.

But in the pub I sit beside

A fire of crackling wood

A beer in hand

A plate of food

I tell you, life is good!

Not so many weeks ago all I could see from the window was a palette
of colour. Gaudy blooms adorned well tended beds, trees were dressed in quivering leaves
of green , and puffs of whitest cloud drifted across a sky of deepest blue . Today it is different . The summer flowers have run to seed and the trees are no more than frosted skeletons . A leaden sky presses down on all who venture out and the freezing
wind whispers winter .

I turn my head from the window and stare into the orange
glow of a crackling log fire . I feel a warm glow in my cheeks as I raise a pint
of frothing ale to my lips . I watch as a cloud of steam floats upward from a
bowl of comfort food and assaults all my senses. From the bar comes the sound
of jovial chatter and the clanking of glasses . Here in the inn, winter is kept
outside . As I throw another log on to the fire a voice in my head reminds me –
life is good

Marvelous poem and just the way it happens in winter!! I loved the simple approach with so much reality and excellent imagery!! Both your prose and poetry are excellent reads and then life really feels good!! The two prompts have blended in so very well!!